The Compass office and Compass groups all over the UK run events to bring people together to discuss current issues, create policies and organise for action. Many of our events are recorded and you can listen to them in our Library.

Upcoming Events

Compass is a home for people, political parties and other organisations to work together to create a fairer society based on equality, sustainability and democracy, and to campaign together to achieve these aims.
A new Compass group is starting up in Calderdale, which we hope will lead to the...

Past Events

Don't miss the next meeting of East London Compass, to debate the question:
"Do we live in a parliamentary democracy?"
We'll be joined by Alex Runswick from Unlock Democracy and Christine Shawcroft from the Greater London Assembly and the event will be chaired by Rachel Collinson. They'll...

Compass is co-sponsoring a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrats' spring conference in March aimed at establishing a radical platform within the party, and doing so in a way that will allow or progressive cross-party co-operation.
The meeting is being hosted by two Lib Dems who have worked...

We're holding a session about our new project at the Green Party Spring Conference, in Bournemouth, 3rd March. The Common Platform is an ideas and policies space to bring together the best progressive thinking of our times - and to build the relationships that will make the next progressive...

West London Compass and Make Votes Matter would like to bring together Labour Party members, supporters and others on the broad left across west and south west London to address electoral unfairness, and other topics in the debate around electoral change. Come to our meeting to hear speakers...

At the last election, the Tories took all the seats in Cornwall, despite some very close races. In West Cornwall, both the Lib Dems and Labour ran the Tories to the line; the Lib Dems lost out by some 200 votes.
Cornwall and Britain need the politics of hope. Progressive Alliance for Cornwall...

Are you a mother with something to say about how austerity, NHS cuts, education cuts and anything else is affecting you?
Come along to an open MIC session on Saturday 20 January 2018 from 11am to 1pm to share your views in an open and democratic space.
'Mothers for a Progressive Alliance'...

The meeting on Wednesday 22nd November 2017 is entitled "The Future of UK Health Policy in the 21st Century: The Great Health Debate", and the keynote speakers will include experts and speakers from a range of political parties:
- Larry Sanders (Green Party Health...

On Saturday 18th November, the 'Mothers for a Progressive Alliance' is getting together for the first time. The group is being launched by Jane Chelliah, the blogger 'ambitious mamas' to push for issues that affect parents, particularly mothers, to be explored and adopted at a cross-party...

This year our yearly gathering will take place on Saturday 4 November, at Toynbee Studios near Aldgate.
It's the chance for the Compass clan to get together, check in, discuss our strategy, our local groups and our ambitious plans for the future.
More details, including timings, sessions...

During the last election, Bristol progressives from all walks of life came together to campaign for a more equal, sustainable and democratic future. We played a huge role in delivering progressive wins in many key seats and fundamentally reshaping the narrative of British politics.
However...

Recent activity

Not everyone is a mother. But taking a mother-centric approach in the workplace has wider benefits for all carers, for the economy and for wider society.
Some of us are mothers by accident, some have yearned for their babies for years, and others choose not to have children. But we all...

This speech was given at the launch of Mothers for a Progressive Alliance, 18th November 2017.
I’d like to share a couple of stories: that of Bibi Mamana, killed by a drone missile strike in Pakistan in 2012; and of Jamila Ali Abdu, a little girl who died this year of hunger and disease in...

In this talk I am going to argue that placing mothering at the centre of political-economic discourse is central to the advance of progressive politics, the dismantling of the hegemony of neoliberalism within British society and its replacement by what could be seen as the ‘good society’. In...

Don't miss the next meeting of East London Compass, to debate the question:
"Do we live in a parliamentary democracy?"
We'll be joined by Alex Runswick from Unlock Democracy and Christine Shawcroft from the Greater London Assembly and the event will be chaired by Rachel Collinson. They'll...

I joined the Progressive Alliance for Mothers to confront Islamophobia
I arrived in the UK 8 years ago from the USA. I am a practising Christian who met and married a British Muslim man after arriving. My white family are staunch Trump supporters. Due to the clash of beliefs I no longer have...

This blogpost is the first in a week-long series exploring the question of the role of mothers in progressive politics.
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On Mother’s Day we rightly celebrate the role that mothers play in raising children while juggling work whether it is paid or at home. Mothers' work often goes...

Compass is co-sponsoring a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrats' spring conference in March aimed at establishing a radical platform within the party, and doing so in a way that will allow or progressive cross-party co-operation.
The meeting is being hosted by two Lib Dems who have worked...

March 8th, International Women’s Day, can never be a full celebration of all womankind while large swathes of women are part of the ‘left behind’ debate. It is these women who should be put centre stage today because the female talent pool being celebrated is only partly representative of...

We're holding a session about our new project at the Green Party Spring Conference, in Bournemouth, 3rd March. The Common Platform is an ideas and policies space to bring together the best progressive thinking of our times - and to build the relationships that will make the next progressive...

West London Compass and Make Votes Matter would like to bring together Labour Party members, supporters and others on the broad left across west and south west London to address electoral unfairness, and other topics in the debate around electoral change. Come to our meeting to hear speakers...

How do progressives not just change society but transform it? As the 40-year reign of neo-liberalism stumbles but doesn’t yet tumble, where does hope come from? There are two schools of thought: monopolism and pluralism.
A glimpse into the thinking of the monopolists could be seen in Owen...

This paper was written to help the Labour Party think through its approach to power so it can build relationships with other parties and forces it is bound to require if it is not just to gain office but have and use power for transformative effect.
Equally this was written so that Green,...

At the last election, the Tories took all the seats in Cornwall, despite some very close races. In West Cornwall, both the Lib Dems and Labour ran the Tories to the line; the Lib Dems lost out by some 200 votes.
Cornwall and Britain need the politics of hope. Progressive Alliance for Cornwall...

Race and migration are the most explosive issues in British politics today. In contrast to the tabloid headlines, Our City: Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham explores how one of Britain’s major cities has been transformed for the better by its migrant population. Based on original...

This think piece by Chris Bowers and Paul Pettinger makes the case for radical liberalism in today's political context. The authors, both linked to the Liberal Democrats, argue that their party should embrace and advance radical social liberal values, such as seeking the devolution of power as...

This thinkpiece makes the case for radical liberalism in today's political context. Paul Pettinger and Chris Bowers make the case that the Lib Dems should embrace and advance radical social liberal values, such as seeking the devolution of power as well as wealth, and empowering people as...

Are you a mother with something to say about how austerity, NHS cuts, education cuts and anything else is affecting you?
Come along to an open MIC session on Saturday 20 January 2018 from 11am to 1pm to share your views in an open and democratic space.
'Mothers for a Progressive Alliance'...

‘Mothers for a Progressive Alliance' was launched on 18th November, 2017 with the backing of Compass. The group is part of the Progressive Alliance movement. It will put at the forefront mothers as a grouping in society with specific needs worthy of consideration, as opposed to being...

The old economic order is dying morally and practically. To build a new one we need not just different forms of ownership for more social purpose, but workers with rights underpinned by a new system of social security. Here Ursula Huws makes the case for a new Bill of Workers' Rights and a new...

The Good London project addressed how rising inequality and rapid change are excluding too many Londoners from a good life. The project started with a single question: what kind of city do you want to live in? At the heart of Good London was the intention to question how democracy operates in...